Monsters in Modern Times
by TheSexyPineapple
Summary: A modern!AU of Jenny and Vastra, still set in London but in a time we're more familiar with. Vastra and Jenny grow close without the limitations of Victorian values but, as with every relationship, in every era, there are trials. Don't take this too seriously. Awful summary and title but the story itself is a lot better than it sounds.
1. Chapter 1

Night, at any time in history, was not a safe time for women. Then again, there were, and still are, a few people in the right place at the right time...or the right people in the right place at the wrong time, or any variant of.

Smart as she was, though she was no great genius, she was out during the later hours, regretting that she'd been talked into going out. She would have preferred to stay in, maybe study, watch TV, perhaps read a book. However, it was no use thinking about what she preferred to do.

Men, as she had learned, were not all gentlemen. Some would take what they wanted by force, such as the man in question, the one who had very quickly pulled her down a back alley and tried to pin her to the floor. Tried. Before she had even hit the ground he was dragged backwards at a speed Jenny thought faster than possible. This was followed by an angry hissing sound that, in the heat of the moment, she dismissed.

_That's a lot of blood_ was her last thought before she passed out- or was she knocked out?

When she woke up it was to the feeling of an uncomfortable sofa that felt like it was stuffed with grit rather than sponge. From the sight she saw she assumed she was still unconscious, monsters (like the one that she was seeing) didn't exist in the real world.

Said monsters rolled her eyes at the vacant stare she was receiving, well at least it was a quiet reaction for once.

After eyeing the human she'd carried back to her dingy apartment in one of the poorer parts of London. She hated helping apes. If she annoyed her she resolved to eat her as punishment.

"You were attacked, I happened to be in the area. You're welcome."

Was she ill? One of them was. Either Jenny's vision was playing up or the other woman, she sounded and looked like a woman, was a deathly green, had a horrible skin condition, had a malformed skull, and was totally bald. Jenny wasn't sure which she would have liked.

"It's rude to stare," the woman, who she'd later come to care about, snapped, occasionally twitching as sniffing. It was very strange.

Jenny continued to stare despite the harsh words, really though, what could she have expected? She had basically kidnapped her and she just needed to look in a mirror to see why she was staring. What if she was sensitive about her condition? Oh, now Jenny felt bad, though she acknowledged that she needn't because, for all she knew, she could have been in a great deal of danger.

"Are you incapable of speech? Or are you regressing to you significantly harrier ancestors? There isn't much of an intelligence gap. Funny how a _I'm_ clearly more eloquent than the ape who's first language is the one that my kind were never meant to speak." The woman was rambling, the only reason Jenny hadn't cut her off was due to extreme confusion. Her kind? She couldn't be implying that she wasn't human, could she?

In the manner of true refinery Jenny found herself being sick on the floor. The woman shut up. Every cloud has a silver lining.

Unfortunately after just a minute or so it set the woman off on an incredibly frustrated (and frustrating) rant.

"... you're all filthy and disgusting, how, _how_, did you become the dominant species?! Rodents are more civilised than you."

Jenny whined and flopped backwards onto the sofa after trying to get up. God, she was disorientated. "I want my mum..."

"Your mother isn't here, believe you me, if I could dump you on some other unfortunate soul." The thing leaned in towards her. "What is your name?"

"Where's my phone?"

"Answer my question."

"Get away from me!"

She made a sound akin to a growl. "I _saved_ you the least you can do is give me your name. You're lucky I was hungry when I found you." Again, later she'd learn that she only said that to impose a sense of superiority through power. "He was a smoker," she added as if it were a normal conversation, which, for all Jenny knew, it could have been to her.

"Look, I've done you a service, who knows what could have happened to you had I not intervened? So, I repeat, you're welcome."

Jenny squeezed her eyes shut and tried to either wake up or make sense of the situation at hand. "Why?"

"I already told you. I was hungry."

She felt about ready to be sick again, worrying that you could be perhaps killed and eaten wasn't an everyday occurrence.

It took more effort than it should have but she managed to pluck up the courage

to ask her why she had brought her there, why she hadn't hurt her and, though it wasn't perfect, looked after her.

She didn't get an answer. The woman looked sad, Jenny thought. It was hard to tell. Only because she was polite, and more than a little bit scared, she didn't press the subject.

Eventually, adhering to her request, she backed off. "May I have your name now?" she asked in a considerably softer tone, one she had learned was far more effective when dealing with non-hostile apes.

"Jenny. Jennifer," she answered as she struggled to stand.

Had Jenny the ability to read minds, which she didn't, she might have laughed at her thoughts. It took her awhile to answer, as she was confused, to her knowledge those were both forenames and one was a derivative of the other.

"Where am I?"

"I believe this is what your people call a 'flat'."

Jenny sighed loudly. "Never mind. Are you planning on letting me go?"

"That depends."

In that moment the slightly-addled girl felt angry, she wasn't about to be kept in a strange and... upon observation, dirty, unkept, unappealing apartment. If she was to go down she would at least show that she was not happy about it.

"Calm yourself. I'm just not letting you go until you're well enough to not be at risk, which should be soon if I am to judge from your current state."

Jenny deflated. "I just want to go home."

She muttered something about human emotional range and huffed. "You will go home as soon as possible."

"Can I have my phone?"

It was passed to her, she was careful to not touch her weird hands. Strange, she'd look back one day and realise how much her view of her had changed. "Thanks."

Jenny quickly got to looking through her phone, seeing if she had any messages or missed calls. None. Clearly people were concerned. She thought about sending a message to friends to let them know she was okay, but she had no credit. The day just got better and better.

"Do you live here?" Jenny asked after a long few moments of looking around at her surroundings.

"In a manner of speaking," she answered bitterly. "It isn't what I'm used to."

"I thought my flat was dodgy," she joked, temporarily forgetting that it was hardly the time or place to do so.

She looked at her quizzically, human lexicon still wasn't something she was familiar with, mostly because she didn't spend much time with them.

She chose to not question her. "Why were you out so late?"

Suddenly Jenny turned red, humans were strange things.

"My friends talked me into going out. Wanted me to pull."

"Pull?"

"Ah- well, it means... erm, basically, like, 'meet someone'," she made air quotations where appropriate. It was clear she still didn't understand.

Slightly flustered and still wobbling on her feet, she sat down on the uncomfortable sofa.

"'Ave you got a name?" An attitude may not have been the best thing to have at the time but she wasn't in her best state of mind.

"Vastra," she answered, seeing it as a reasonable question to ask.

"Well, Vastra, 'ow long are you plannin' on keepin' me 'ere?"

"I believe I already told you." Vastra thought about it for a moment. "If you are confident that you can handle it I will return you to wherever it is you live in a few hours," she suggested, hoping to get the ape off her hands.

"Hours?!" catching herself, she lowered her voice before continuing. "I'm ready to go now."

Vastra shook her head. "No, I'm afraid you are not. First I will need a short amount of time to asses your state to see if you really are fit to leave, though my preliminary guess is rarely wrong, and even if you are it is safer for me to travel at night, it means I'm less likely to seem suspicious. I have had quite enough of people shrieking at the sight of me."

Okay, those were good enough reasons, but she wasn't happy about it.

"Perhaps you should rest? If I am correct then even walking for extended periods of time will exert you, I would rather not carry you to your home."

Jenny rolled her eyes, it made Vastra smirk. That smirk, she decided, was really quite irksome. Nevertheless it was a good idea, which made is worse, and she did go to sleep, it was worryingly easy. It wasn't a smart thing to do, allow yourself to become vulnerable in that sort of situation, but Vastra did save her, she'd just have to show a little faith... and be overcome with tiredness.

Hours later, when it was dark, Jenny awoke to the sound of Vastra's attempts to rouse her by saying many variants of her name while somewhat close to her. "Jenny, Ms Jennifer... Jen?" That last one wasn't in any way right, it didn't feel, well, right.

"Just Jenny, thanks," she said groggily, rubbing at her tired eyes. She got a bit of a start seeing her saviour again, her sleep-numbed mind temporarily forgetting that this Vastra woman didn't seem to be human.

"It's late enough for me to take you home, I just need your address and to quickly asses your state."

Her address was given, though she immediately regretted it, she had potentially given her the means to quite easily find her and do something that probably wouldn't benefit her.

After Vastra stood her up and checked the things doctors usually checked; balance, pupil dilation, basic cognition. It was curious, she seemed to have a real handle on a lot of things that one would not expect someone who lived in the place she did to have.

"You should be well enough to not fall over, but do try to take it easy, I refuse to do anything more than the minimum."

_This is the _minimum_? Bloody 'ell, she's thorough._ "Can we go now, I just want to go 'ome."

"Just give me a moment to get my coat."

When she returned she nearly shrieked, she wasn't sure what was more frightening, the scaly face or the one covered by a big black coat that zipped all the way up, one of those ones with goggles in the hood. She made a note to never trust anyone wearing one of those. Vastra looked like some sort of hooligan liable to cause a lot of damage to the world around her.

"Is something the matter? You've gone pale, it would be counter-productive if you were to fall unconscious and I would very much like you to leave as soon as possible."

"N-nothin', just gave me a bit of a fright is all." She smiled in a sort-of crooked way to show that she was fine to go.

Vastra made to leave, Jenny followed. She opened the door, Jenny noticed that she didn't unlock it. Strange. Stranger still was that she didn't lock the door after they had both left the flat. So she questioned it, "Aren't you worried people will steal your things?"

"What things? Anything that I have that might be of value isn't there. Besides, I don't have a key."

"You what? You're squattin' 'ere?"

Had she not been wearing that awful hood then Jenny would have been able to see the look of confusion that passed over her features. "No, I'm standing. Are you sure you're alright?" Apes weren't bright, were they?

"Fine."

Vastra started walking again, taking the stairs down and out of the tower and then taking dimly lit back roads and alleys towards the address Jenny had given her.

It was surreal, she was seeing parts of London she had never knew existed, yet the woman who had saved her seemed to be so at ease, despite the feeling of danger and foreboding that Jenny had been taught to feel in places like this.

Every so often Vastra would look back to see how Jenny was doing, in case she needed to rest or if, though she couldn't have been more than five paces ahead, she had trouble keeping up. It was somewhat disturbing, the way the dim street lights would make the plastic on her hood shine white. She looked more like a monster with the coat on than without it.

"Why do you wear that? You could probably take care of anyone who saw you, an' even if you didn't then nobody'd believe them if they told people about you," Jenny said, itching to make conversation, the silence coupled with the atmosphere was unbearable.

"Believe it or not, there are certain people who will take notice and they will come and find me, I'd rather not be wrapped up in that, my kind have enough bad blood with your powers that be. As for 'taking care' of those who catch sight of me, well, I made a deal and a promise not to injure, mortally or otherwise, an innocent. And believe me, if I do I will be discovered and that puts more than just myself will be put at risk." There was something to her tone, a sincerity that she had more on the line than one might think if she made a wrong move or a mistake. There was almost a sadness and it made Vastra seem a little more human and a little less monstrous, not that there would be a time later where she might describe her as human- nor would she want to.

"Oh." Jenny went silent after that, walking slightly behind Vastra.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't mention me, you've yet to give me reason to hurt you and it would be nice if you didn't repay me by being my downfall."

Jenny wasn't sure if she was joking or not.

They reached the apartment building Jenny lived in, her place of residence was considerably nicer than Vastra's. I wasn't in the nicest part of London but it certainly wasn't the worst, made better only by the parts of the city Jenny had seen that night. She used to complain about her accommodation, but that was something she doubted she'd do as much, knowing that she could easily have it worse.

She went inside and Vastra followed her this time, followed her towards the door to her apartment, where she took out her key and unlocked her door. She turned to face Vastra, who had unzipped her hood, and thanked her for what she had done and getting her home safely. Her hand extended towards her and Vastra shook it.

"You're welcome."

* * *

A/N- New modern!AU fic, because I actually had drive to write that but I've hit a block with Please Use a Knife and Fork so this is my new one so I actually continue to write.


	2. Chapter 2

The week following her safe delivery home was a quiet one. Jenny had neglected school, work, and just about everyone she knew, claiming that she was ill, however she just needed time to collect herself. It had gotten to the point where she was no longer sure if any of what had transpired had been real. She was going to need a good dose of reality and the real world. Unfortunately the reality that turned up at her door was not a reality she was expecting.

Thankfully, Vastra was not wearing that coat thing; it made her look a lot less scary. That isn't to say that she didn't look scary without it, she was quite intimidating either way. Why wasn't she wearing it? That wasn't the most important question, but still.

"I know you're at the door, are you going to be polite and open it or are you going to continue standing there thinking you can pretend you're not home?"

Jenny cursed under her breath and undid the latch to open up the door. "What the bleedin' 'ell are you doin' 'ere?!" she asked, looking more than a bit irate. At least the events prior to this reunion were real.

Vastra crossed her arms and hissed in a manner that Jenny could only describe as annoyed. "If you would let me in I would explain myself, do you honestly think I want to be here? Out in the open too, I could be seen, I may well have been already. I don't think you appreciate the risk I have put myself at. Oh, and do you know what? It's cold, you, albeit inadvertently, have been the cause of a great deal of discomfort this evening."

A minute or so of uncomfortable silence passed between them. "It's polite to invite me in."

In a daze, Jenny nodded. Manners cost nothing after all. "Would you like to come in?" she asked dumbly. The response was obvious, a quick (and probably insincere) thanks was said, and Vastra strode in as if she had more of a right to be there than Jenny.

Jenny didn't like the way her new guest was looking at her home, and how almost-feral she seemed, sniffing and twitching as she had when she saw her the first time. Dear lord, was that her tongue? Goodness gracious. "What on Earth are you doin'?" she asked, almost surprised that she sounded more exasperated than shocked.

She frowned, tongue still hanging out of her mouth almost comically. "Getting a sense of my surroundings. My sensory system is different, and better, than yours," Vastra explained, though it made little sense.

Jenny's good manners instinctively made her want to offer her guest a drink, but that was polite and she wasn't sure if Vastra deserved any unnecessary politeness seen as she hadn't been so herself. That and she wasn't even sure if she would take it the right way and see it as a nice gesture.

"What are you?" she finally blurted out, flushing because she hadn't meant to ask, and the question itself wasn't one she herself would be too pleased to hear. "Sorry," she said quickly, hoping to quell any rage that she may have triggered- she'd seen what she could do before, heaven knows how she could have taken her anger out on her.

Much to her (pleasant) surprise Vastra didn't look mad, just miffed, as if she was asked that a lot, and, to be honest, Jenny wouldn't have been surprised if she had. "Clearly not human, which, I assume, is why you're asking. I'm a silurian, a sapient reptile. Yes, there are more like me, yes, I am cold blooded, and no, I'm still not going to kill you," she said, seeming quite bored. "Now, do you have anything else you would like to ask?"

"Are you really cold blooded?"

Vastra groaned, did she really have to be responsible for such a stupid ape? She just said that she was. The girl was either questioning her word or legitimately dumb. Both annoyed Vastra greatly, though that may have had something to do with her being a mammal. "Yes."

Her life, it seemed, had taken quite the turn. "And what are you doin' 'ere?"

Cockney accents, in Vastra's opinion (coincidentally the only one she thought mattered) were the worst, she wondered why she stayed in London. She knew why she stayed, a big part of it was out of stubbornness, she didn't want to leave her home, didn't she had to or should. It was here home first. The apes should leave.

Cringing slightly, managing to mask it well enough, she managed to think of a suitable enough answer. "I am checking up on you. You're small and weak, it was only wise, not to mention courteous, to make sure you hadn't found yourself in a compromising situation again. I would just be in more trouble while 'under my watch'," she explained, making air quotations as she said that last part.

"I don't need some lizard keepin' an eye on me," Jenny snapped back. This was not what she needed.

"Whether you like it or not, I am obliged to keep an eye on you. Don't worry, I will be trying to sever this tie, it is no more pleasant for me than it is for you."

For some reason Jenny wasn't looking quite right, but she didn't really know what Jenny looking right looked like. "... Are you quite alright? You seem to have gone pale? Is this normal for your people? I wouldn't know, the last time I ever properly looked at a living ape there was a lot of fur covering them, I couldn't tell what colour their flesh was."

Jenny nodded. "I'm fine. Sorry, why are you here?"

Vastra clicked her tongue and folded her arms, ignorance annoyed her to no end. She knew it wasn't just the people in the 'special cases' department of Scotland Yard and this only proved it. "I'm here to make sure you aren't dead or on your way towards death and or any negative behaviours or conditions. You're welcome."

"What? Why on Earth-?" Jenny was cut off by Vastra simply raising her hand. Vastra was elated to find that she seemed to have some sort of commanding presence.

"Have you taken to illegal mind-altering drugs, hallucinogenic or otherwise?"

"What?! No!" She was affronted by the accusation; did she look like an addict?

Vastra, still unfamiliar with humans and their quirks, didn't realise that her higher pitch, exaggeration of accent, and higher volume, meant that she was in some way upset. So she continued. "Have you delved into any illegal activities?- don't lie to me, I am not going to go to the police, I only investigate what interests me and could potentially cause significant damage."

To Jenny that was strange. It was clear Vastra had some sort of contempt towards humanity as a whole, and yet she seemed to oppose chaos and the hurting of others... that didn't deserve it. "Investigate?"

"Your kind can't find it in themselves to solve a simple murder here and there, let alone handle something not of this world or time. Torchwood, I'll admit, manages to cope well enough for an ape organisation, Scotland Yard isn't so effective. The only reason they let me go about my business is so they don't have UNIT interfering. We formed an agreement wherein they give me what I am due for solving whatever case I work on and don't tell UNIT of my existence and I don't make myself known to most. I actually violated the terms of our agreement by saving you and am continuing to do so by being here."

"Then why come?"

"Answer my question."

"No I haven't. Now you answer mine."

"You're my responsibility now, whether we like it or not. It's part of the conditions of me letting you live after seeing me and know where I live. I think it was generous of me to spare you."

"Then just kill me. Eat me or whatever it is you do." Not the time, Jenny thought to herself. She was allowing herself to get riled up and subsequently rude, hardly safe behaviour around someone who could likely kill them.

"I don't want to!" Vastra hissed, her hands turning into fists. "You are the first human who doesn't literally quiver at the sight of me. You're proof that your kind might possibly react somewhat positively to mine! The last time humans came into contact with us you destroyed an entire colony after they agreed to be peaceful. The only reason I think that we might be able to return is because I hope, blindly hope, that there are other apes that react to our existence as you did." Jenny stared, quite taken aback by her outburst, as she paused to calm down. "We would suffer more casualties than you would if a war were to break out, which I fear is a likely outcome given your history."

A moment passed between them, Vastra calmed enough to look her usual stoic self though Jenny continued to gawk at her. "Don't look at me like that."

"There are more of you?"

"As I said before, yes. Millions."

"Christ."

* * *

A/N- Still no muse for Please Use a Knife and Fork but there are plenty of ideas for this one. I'm sorry if people are waiting for PUaKaF but I'm just so crap and stuff so it's gonna take a while. Hopefully you'll enjoy this.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm fine, look, totally fine. You can leave," Jenny told Vastra gesturing vaguely around herself.

Vastra exhaled frustrated, "Are all of you this ungrateful? I may well have risked life and limb to get here, and I'm welcomed by this. This, Jenny, is hardly what one would expect from a civilised society."

"Says the one who _eats people_!" Jenny interjected.

"It's no different than when you eat a pig or a cow or any other animal," the Silurian reasoned.

"They're completely different! Animals don't talk and feel like we do. They're not as smart as us," Jenny explained- she found it hard to believe that she was even discussing this topic at all.

Vastra gave a mocking laugh, "Tell me, Miss Jennifer, are you saying that because you really feel that way or because that is what has been drilled into that furry little head of yours?"

Jenny shut right up. Given the time she might have been able to come up with something somewhat intelligent to throw back but, alas, she hadn't.

"Exactly. Don't you dare try to lecture me on what is right and what is not when you have no perspective and when I have done more for you apes than most of your kind. Tell me, was it a human who attacked you?" Jenny nodded, Vastra looked smug and satisfied for a second before flitting back. "And was it not I who _selflessly_ went out of her way to save you, allow you to rest and recover in my home, and am now here purely because I wanted to make sure you were doing well? Clearly you are not but presently that is beside point."

"I-" attempted the flustered girl.

The haughty Silurian huffed, "No, don't bother answering, it was rhetorical. You people need to realise that I am not the villain here."

"You're not the bad guy, but it's easy to see why people think you are..." Jenny tried to explain.

"Just because I'm not an ape?" Vastra sneered as she tensed up, growing wary with the conversation.

"That and the fact that you come off as, well, no offence, but..." Jenny paused looking for the right words.

"Out with it," Vastra demanded when Jenny seemed reluctant to continue.

Jenny grinned as she found a slightly diplomatic answer, "You're a bit intimidating, you know? It's only natural to be scared of you."

"Are you?" Vastra asked, secretly wanting the small ape to not fear her. It would make a nice change. Just once she didn't want to be seen as something to be frightened of.

Said small ape nodded emphatically, "Of course I am!"

The lizard rolled her eyes, a gesture she had unknowingly picked up from humans, a gesture Jenny didn't miss either. "You're not acting like most humans when I talk to them. Normally they're shaking and always looking for a way out. Sometimes they leak from their face, which is quite the evolutionary flaw, it only makes you lose water and thus you become dehydrated and even more useless than before," she began going off on a tangent, being allowed to explore her thoughts for too long. Sometimes it was useful but in this case it was not.

"Did you come here just to criticise our existence?" Jenny asked exasperated.

Vastra hesitated. "... No."

"Look, I'm fine," Jenny said trying to bring the conversation back to its original point.

"No you're not. You're undernourished and deprived of sleep."

While Jenny was mildly interested as to how exactly she knew that, she guessed she could probably go on without finding out. Which she was wrong about as she'd eventually, when they were more acquainted, ask a number of questions in the hope of understanding her species some more, in return she'd do the same about humanity for Vastra. "Why do you care?"

"I believe I already explained that," the lizard said crossing her arms in a huff.

"Just leave," she said as tersely as she could, trying to sound as if she had some control when she didn't feel as if she had any at all. It felt like she'd been dropped into this and she had no choice but to accept it, unfortunately for the will of the universe she wasn't so accepting and incredibly stubborn when she wanted to be. Vastra would learn to quite like that trait in particular.

"Even if you make me leave I'll be obliged to return to assess you, and if that fails I will have to intercept you at another time, though it doesn't seem like you've left here in a few days."

"Leave," she said with a bit more force even though she knew that she wasn't dealing with someone who would likely respond as she hoped.

Vastra narrowed her eyes and turned, mumbling about risking being sighted, how it was cold, and that humans were such an ungrateful species. "I'll see you next week," she said before leaving and slamming the door, as if Jenny didn't already have a bad enough headache.

In need of a cold drink she ventured to her kitchen and ran the tap for a short while until it was cold enough and filled a glass. "Breathe... she's just a woman who's checking up on you, the fact that she happens to be a lizard is completely irrelevant." She took a large gulp of her drink and rested her forehead on her hand with her elbow on the counter-top. "And now you're talking to yourself and trying to rationalise the situation which probably isn't healthy."

She massaged a temple with her free hand and closed her eyes. "What have you gotten yourself into, Jenny?"

Meanwhile, Vastra continued to talk to herself. Much as she disliked humans as a whole she had a responsibility and was honour-bound to see it through. Sometimes she wished she had just ignored the Doctor. Perhaps she would have been dead or imprisoned but at least she wouldn't be the sorry excuse for a Silurian she was now. Surely her sisters would be sickened by her now. Helping mammals? She was a joke.

She didn't even have an appetite, though she had eaten quite the meal just a few nights ago so it wasn't so strange, but factoring in how the temperature drained her she was almost perturbed. Worse still was that she didn't exactly have a Silurian physician she could visit in case there really was a problem- which there wasn't.

She just wanted to go home, her real home, where the sun would almost always beat down on the land and the seas were warm and shallow. Unfortunately she knew that even if she did go back underground and into hibernation the world had changed too much. And what did she really have to go back to anyway? The people that mattered most to her were gone, going back would likely cause her more grief than staying, not to mention how the Doctor wouldn't be too happy with her.

* * *

A/N- Okay, there is really no excuse for the lateness of this chapter. It was very hard to write and I owe a lot of it to my lovely beta. Believe it or not I do actually have a lot of stuff planned and written but this chapter was just so painful to write.


	4. Chapter 4

Vastra arrived at Jenny's home, as promised a week later at the same time, still paranoid of being seen and annoyed by the cold.

Truthfully Jenny hadn't been expecting her. She thought that she might've just forgotten about her and they could both go back to their normal lives, which probably would have been far easier and less hassle.

For the past five minutes Vastra had been knocking at her door, in that time Jenny had been trying to make herself look presentable and the living room less cluttered. Unsurprisingly she wasn't able to do much. Normally she was very neat, tidy, and clean, she'd just been busy and tired and, quite frankly, (unusually) lazy.

"I'm coming! Bloody 'ell, I 'eard you the first time!"

Just out of spite Vastra knocked again and this time very loudly, forgetting that she didn't want to bring attention to herself. Soon she was met with the frustrated face of an almost worryingly tired ape girl. Well, almost worryingly tired to someone who actually cared on a level deeper than 'I'm obligated to be here because the consequences of not following this agreement are even worse than your company'.

"What now?"

"I'm wonderful, thank you. Yourself?" Oh good, sarcasm, just what Jenny needed.

She deflated and stood aside, resigning herself to that this was somehow now her life. "Come in."

"Are you okay?" Vastra asked with something resembling concern after entering, ushering the human further into the room, and closing the door behind her.

"Long week," she answered, stifling a yawn.

Vastra flicked he tongue out every few seconds and made a face that screamed 'unpleasant' as Jenny unconsciously lead her towards her living room and took a seat opposite to her. "You've been out."

"Work."

"Don't lie to me," she said coolly, almost cockily.

Jenny was offended, she had no reason to lie and it was just plain rude to throw accusations of ill testimony around, especially in one's own home. "M'not."

"You've been to a hospital or medical facility of some kind. Tell me, are you ill?" Somehow her observation and question had landed her on the receiving end of quite the wicked glare. "What?"

Rolling her eyes, Jenny thought it would be for the best if she just told her what she was obviously missing, "I work at a 'ospital. Jesus Christ. Hence the scrubs," she gestured to the too-large items of clothing she was apparently using as pyjamas. The gesture, however, was useless as Vastra didn't know the connotations of the garments. "How else d'you think I nicked 'em?"

"Pardon me?"

"Never mind," she said exasperatedly, she didn't have the energy to educate a humanly-inept alien thing. No, not an alien.

This time Jenny found herself to be on the receiving end of a look, this one being quite condescending. "You're a doctor?"

"ER resident doctor. Surprise."

"You're a doctor?" The face Vastra was pulling might have humoured the human if she'd done it some time down the line of their relationship, but she wouldn't be able to recall it, just the conversation, if she were to think back.

"I'm pretty sure I just answered that."

"Really?"

"At the Royal London 'ospital. Can you stop looking at me like that?"

"You're a doctor?" Vastra asked again. She hadn't intended to be rude; if she had she would have said something about apes and the general inferiority of mammals.

"Yes I'm a bloody doctor!"

"Are you sure?" She had to ask, the poor monkey could very well be sick.

"Vastra!"

Vastra visibly recoiled; nobody had said her name in a conversation in too long a time. It was almost foreign to hear it said with such force and attitude. Actually nobody had addressed her in a similar way since her youth, when she was fairly subordinate. "You don't look like a doctor," she defended. It was a fair point. The only doctor that outwardly resembled humans she had seen was, let's say 'unusual'. Kind, very kind, but strange indeed.

Jenny opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. What did a doctor look like anyway? Aside from the white coat and stethoscope- neither of which Jenny wore outside of the hospital. In fact, she never did wear a white coat.

"I knew a doctor, well, he called himself a doctor. 'lThe Doctor', he said."

"Why are you telling me?"

"I don't know," she answered while staring into space, thinking. "I'm making conversation."

"Why are you here?"

"I've already told you."

"You're not very good at checking up on me if you don't even know what I do."

"I don't care about your personal life, just your well-being."

"My God, you're an idiot."

"You live alone, you have no regular visitors of any real emotional significance to you." She flicked out her tongue again and sniffed, "it also wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that you have no, what is the human term? Significant other? judging by the inconsistencies in foreign scents and lack of belongings that don't reek of you." The Silurian couldn't help the grin that crept up onto her face at the sight of Jenny's clear embarrassment. "How am I doing?"

"You've been stalking me!"

"Oh I haven't, that's what I learned just now. Don't call me an idiot, doctor Jenny, when you haven't the slightest idea. Anyway, am I right?"

"How?"

"I'm a lizard, that should be enough for you, I would have thought you'd know the basic sensory system of a snake. Apply your knowledge." Should she have been flattered that she, someone who clearly looked down on anything that had warm blood in their veins, thought she had some knowledge? Because she wasn't in the slightest.

"Yeah, I get that, but a snake can't get all of that that easily."

"Have you ever spoken to one?"

"Unfortunately I have now."

"You're awfully rude. I'm a Silurian, not a snake."

"Could've fooled me."

"Again, rude. I can't even unhinge my jaw." Briefly the image of Vastra doing just that passed through both of their thoughts. Needless to say that it was a traumatic experience for both parties involved.

"Sorry." She looked to the floor and held her face in her hands. Vastra was there for a reason. Aside from a bit of a temper, a superiority complex, and general rudeness (rudeness that she was trying to excuse because she apparently didn't realise that she shouldn't be behaving in that manner... and because she wasn't being so polite herself). "Look at me, I'm losing my temper with someone who apparently wants to look out for me and you 'aven't even done anything really wrong."

"Is the little mammal finally calming herself?"

"Don't push it, I could still tell people about you," she warned.

"But you won't."

"I know. But I could."

"Now, are you going to talk to me today?"

She sighed. "I owe you that much."

"You're eating better, but you still aren't well. How are you mentally?" she asked using that sort-of concerned tone.

"You said you only cared about my well being."

"Don't patronise me, you're a doctor, you know how the mind can affect the body."

She sighed and rubbed her hand on her face and through her hair that she decided needed a wash before tomorrow even though it was already late. It wasn't as if people needed to sleep. "People die around me, I work long hours, and my attending has it in for me, I swear. I'm good but I'm just so tired." That was nice, it was nice to vent. Vastra was a stranger to her, she didn't care what she thought, so she became her soundboard.

"People die around me too," Vastra said, empathising somewhat.

"No they don't, you kill them, there's a difference."

"You have no idea, Jenny."

"I don't? 'Ave you seen an ER?"

"Yes, but that is besides the point."

Briefly she wondered how and why but brushed it aside in favour of simplicity. "'Ow do you figure?"

"You see strangers lose their lives, but you try to save them and make it as comfortable as possible for them if they have no chance. When I kill and hunt I tend to end their lives quickly so they aren't long in pain, I make exceptions to this rule but that is presently irrelevant. We're similar in that respect. You ease suffering in the last moments, I make sure it doesn't last too long. We both help people, albeit it in very different ways. Me by taking, you by giving." Jenny could see her point, yes it was warped and a worrying thing to hear a person say, but she understood. Maybe that was worse, but it would explain a lot, like why she'd be so willing to one day pack her bags without so much as a look over her shoulder. That she understood scared her. A doctor didn't think like that. A normal person didn't think like that. And here she was, listening without question.

"I watched my family, my friends, be slaughtered in front of me by your kind," Vastra continued. Jenny took note of how her features hardened, it would be useful to be able to read her if this sort of thing were going to be regular. "They didn't even question who or what we were- where is your curiosity?! Think of what you could have learned!" She stopped talking for a few seconds. "I lost my sisters and I killed those who took them, and then I burnt the corpses of my family. So don't tell me I don't know what it's like."

Jenny had to wonder if Vastra was more upset with the ignorance of the killers or with the deaths themselves, there was certainly a strong reaction to both, but it was a very curious thing.

Jenny did feel for her, she'd lost family, not in such a gruesome way mind you, but she'd still had loved ones die. And the pain of being abandoned by your immediate family was unique one though, entirely different from actual death. "Why are you telling me?"

"Because I thought you'd want to know about me." And because it was nice to have a real conversation with somebody.

Vastra was right, she did want to know about her, she wanted answers, explanations.

Jenny shifted uncomfortably and forced herself to look at the woman she had ended up being tied to. "Sorry."

"It isn't your fault, your kind perhaps, but not you."

"Thanks."

"That really isn't cause for thanks."

* * *

A/N- Wow, a quick update, that's just amazing. Thanks to my beta 'cause she's fab

And I hate to ask for reviews but please review.


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